


Jessie Girl

by Whreflections



Series: Oklahoma verse [9]
Category: Kane (Band)
Genre: Birth, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-24
Updated: 2012-09-24
Packaged: 2017-11-14 23:53:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/520825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whreflections/pseuds/Whreflections
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Chris welcome their daughter for the very first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jessie Girl

**Author's Note:**

> 37\. Sound

There’s a few clichés that are actually true, but there’s a lot more that are really  _just_  clichés. For example, there’s nothing beautiful about the sound of a baby crying. Even if it’s your own, there’s nothing about the sound when you hear it that makes you think you’re never in your life going to hear anything that good.   
  
I mean, competitors for ‘most beautiful sound in the world’ were things like Hey Jude or Clapton’s guitar, him and Chris playing together or that sound Chris made when he pushed into him slow and at just the right angle. The first time she looked at him and said, ‘Daddy’,  _that_  was one. His mom singing, back when he was a kid. There were hundreds of things, honestly, so anyone who says that hearing their kid cry for the first time was the most beautiful thing they ever heard is lying.   
  
There is something incredible about it though, but beautiful’s not the word for it. It’s deeper, something that reaches into your soul and tugs you toward the sound from the inside, makes you want to wrap them up and never let them go, because if they’re in your arms maybe you can keep them safe and happy and you’ll never have to hear that sound again. Even those words don’t cover it, but it’s something like that, and it’s nothing you can ever understand until the moment you feel it.   
  
Of course, it was the condensed version of all of that that was spinning around his head the minute he heard his daughter for the first time, but when he thought about it again later, that was the conclusion he came to. He knew Chris was thinking somethin’ along the same lines, too, because he could see the absolute awe in his eyes, feel it in the way Chris’ fingers twitched just a little in his, like he was already dyin’ to get up and take her out of the nurse’s hands. Steve knew, because he was thinking exactly the same thing.   
  
His heart was pounding in his throat and he’d never felt so lightheaded and he could hardly wait to hold her, but he was pretty sure they were gonna hand her to Jenny first. After all, she’d volunteered to carry their child for 9 months. More than volunteered, really, cause they’d  _both_  told her they were gonna find someone else, but she’d insisted that this baby was family, and she’d already had one child, she was more than willing. Apparently, that strong family devotion just ran in the Kane blood. Not to mention stubbornness.   
  
In any case, she’d given birth to her. It gave her first rights to take a look, really, but the impatience was damn near killin’ him. The nurse eased her down, nestled her in against Jenny’s chest and she took her, a soft tired smile tugging at her lips.   
  
“Well, hello there little Jessie.” In the blankets she squirmed, still squalling, and Steve squeezed Chris’ hand hard.  _Theirs_. She was actually theirs, and she was beautiful, and God, he wanted to get her settled in his arms. Jenny looked up, her tired right hand coming barely up off the bed to beckon them closer, Jessie still cradled in her left. “C’mere and let me hand her over. She’s perfect.”   
  
It was surreal, the whole thing. Like time moving in snatches. He was with Chris, almost against the wall, and then he was beside the bed, and then he was holding her, all bundled up in a pink blanket that made him smile, because Chris hadn’t want her to have pink. She squirmed, still fussing, moving against his chest and he shifted his arms, cradling her just a little more possessively. She was  _tiny_ , impossibly small and delicate, and of course he’d seen babies before but none of them had ever seemed quite this…well,  _fragile_.   
  
He rocked her carefully, not much, just the tiniest shift side to side, his throat finally unsticking. “Shhh. Hey, Jessie, shhhh. It’s ok. It’s ok.” He hesitated, shifted again to cup one hand behind her head. Her hair was soft, sparse and blonde, and he could feel the smile he couldn’t have possibly restrained stretching wide even as he kept talking. “It’s alright. Hey, it’s alright.” Her skin was so soft, still a little damp under his thumb as he stroked over her temple. Her cries quavered, lowering and trailing off if only for a beat and he swallowed hard around the sudden lump in his throat.   
  
Behind him he could hear Christian murmuring to Jenny, the words lost on him in his concentration on his baby girl, though out of the corner of his eye he could see Christian bend over the bed to kiss her cheek, his hand lingering as he brushed hair out of her eyes. His smile only widened, and he rocked her just a little more. Christian was terrified, scared half to death that he’d be a horrible father but if he was half as good a father as he was a brother, they’d be just fine.   
  
She really was quieting now, soothing under the slow circles of his thumb and soft, eager words. She whined a little more, her mouth opening a little less around the sound. He was entranced, so much that he hardly noticed Chris was coming up behind him until his arm was around Steve’s waist, a low whisper of “Hey, Jessie girl” slipping from his lips before one cautious hand came up to stroke her cheek. She made a softer noise then, something that might have been fussing or just lingering disorientation, but she turned toward his touch, and  _that_ …  
  
There were times in his life Steve had been pretty sure there weren’t words, but just then, he literally had nothing. He turned just enough to see him, their eyes meeting, and even with everything he’d felt taking her into his arms it was the look in Christian’s eyes then that made him feel like his heart might really just give out from pure impossible joy.   
  
There were still nurses, bustling around Jenny, their talk a running hum in the background but there was  _nothing_  else then, nothing. Just him and Christian and Jessie and the fact that after so many years of crazy, they’d made it still together and done at least a few things  _right_. He looked away to glance down at her, at the bright blue eyes now looking up at the two of them. So blue, prettier than the ocean and he’d heard people say sometimes they changed but-  
  
“You’re gonna look just like your daddy, aren’t you sweetheart?” Christian’s voice broke into his thoughts, warm and heavy with his full accent like he was standing on his momma’s front porch. He stroked her cheek again, fingers gently trailing, and Steve could damn near  _feel_  him glowing when she nuzzled against him again.   
  
Jenny’d been right. She was  _perfect_ , and it was past time Chris held her, if only he could give her up. He stepped back, felt Christian’s solid warmth against his shoulder as he turned around to face him more fully, his arm brushing Chris’ chest. “Here. Take her.”   
  
He only hesitated a split second, a flicker of something like uncertainty in his eyes but then he was nodding, bring his arms up to oh so carefully transfer her from Steve’s hold, bringing her in close against him. She shuffled, fists waving, and when Chris laughed she looked up at him, focused on his face. They’d heard, before, that regardless of circumstances, a child knew the minute it was held by its parents, its caregivers. Now? Steve would have been willing to believe it. Basic instinct, maybe, but he didn’t have room to think that right now.   
  
“Steve?” It was hardly a question, and even so it was a dozen all at once.   
  
He wrapped his arms around Chris from the side, a soft huff of a laugh escaping as he tucked himself in where he wouldn’t be in Jessie’s way, head on Christian’s shoulder as they watched her watching them.   
  
“Yeah. Yeah.” It was enough to answer all the questions. 


End file.
